Recycled Birthday Cake

The older I get, the more I can appreciate the ways of people in "days gone by." With the economy the way it is, I'm always impressed when I see someone recycle, or reuse something. We recently celebrated the birthday of our farm intern. I baked her a chocolate, sour cream cake in three layers. Between the layers I put butter cream frosting with shavings of dark chocolate. Then I frosted the whole thing with milk chocolate frosting and shaved some more of the dark chocolate on top. The whole thing had to be gluten free because of two members of our family. After we had the cake, I sent a large piece with our intern for later. I then shoved the cake, pedestal stand and all, into the refrigerator. It's very unlike us to let a dessert get away. We love our treats! This cake sat in the refrigerator for four days. A gluten free cake tends to dry out a bit faster than ones with regular flours. Unwrapped in our fridge didn't help with the dryness at all!

 I hate to throw something out that was so good to start with. I have learned to use more of the leftovers from gluten free baking because the ingredients are so much more expensive than just going to the store and getting a bag of all purpose flour. I will take waffles and grind them in the food processor for breading. Ends of bread will also be used to store as bread crumbs. Sweet things, that actually survive with the piggies in the house, can easily be made into bread pudding. Bread pudding is one of those old fashioned comfort foods. it was a way of using up old bread. I thought it would be perfect for this cake. I was soooooo right! Yum!

The leftover wedge of cake.

See the birthday candle holes?

I chopped it coarsely.

I also used the leftover end from a loaf of bread.

I beat some eggs.

I added milk to the eggs, then vanilla and poured it over the

pieces of bread and cake in an oiled pan.

I decided to make the bread pudding a bit more decadent by 

adding some cheesecake filling throughout the pudding.

This is my bread pudding with cheesecake before baking.

This is what it looked like after baking. The cheesecake

part was smooth and creamy and the bread pudding was

very flavorful. There was one happy surprise when the frosting

from the cake became like chunks of soft fudge throughout.

Next time you have a few pieces of cake left give it a try. The cake and frosting were made from scratch. I'm not sure you'd get the same results with canned frosting.

Birthday Cake Bread Pudding

Leftover cake and/or bread (about 2 cups)

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups milk

for cheesecake part:

1 8ounce brick of cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar-I used vanilla sugar because I wanted truly decadent!

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter or oil spray an 11x7 pan.

Put pieces of cake and bread in pan.

Mix eggs, milk, and vanilla. (Note there is no sugar in this because of all the frosting on the cake.)

Pour over cake/bread.

Mix together cheesecake ingredients and drop by BIG spoonfuls all around the top.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes.May even take a bit longer. You'll know it's done when the milk and eggs part has firmed almost like a custard. The cheesecake part should no longer be glossy. When you tilt the pan slightly, while holding it with a potholder, it should not seem runny. Sorry I can't nail the baking time any better. My soon to be replaced oven has issues!

It was incredible served hot with vanilla ice cream melting all over it!

You don't need a huge serving of something this good!

YUM!